Investing in women: Improving women’s employment in sub-Saharan Africa

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Women represent about 70 percent of the world’s poor, earn 23% less than men globally, and nearly 60% of women work in the informal economy. In most sub-Saharan Africa countries, women’s participation rate in formal employment remains incredibly low, meaning they are earning less, saving less, and at a greater risk of falling into poverty than men. Even when employment rates rise, men tend to benefit more, which increases the gender gap.

Improving women’s employment is a key step towards women’s empowerment and vital for working towards the goal of gender equality. 

In Senegal, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, teams of local PEP researchers and policymakers explored ways of investing in women to improve their employment and economic empowerment. Members of these PEP project teams will discuss how governments in sub-Saharan Africa can increase and improve women’s employment during a free webinar on March 26, 2021.

Chair 

Christian Emini – PEP Research Fellow & Senior Lecturer at the Université de Yaoundé II, Cameroon

Speakers from PEP project teams

Bupe Simuchimba – Lecturer, University of Zambia. PEP project 20242

Anta Ngom – Researcher, Laboratoire de recherche sur les Institutions et la Croissance, Université Cheikh Anta DIOP de Dakar, Senegal. PEP project 20398

Zizina Shabani Zita Maua – Expert in charge of development projects, Department of Social Sectors, Ministry of Planning, DRC. PEP project 20391

Registration closed

March 26, 2021 | 1-2 p.m. UTC
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Simultaneous interpretation (French-English) will be available for this event.

This is the second of three policy-focused PEP webinars.
The first, Energy for Empowerment, was held on March 12.